Mann Ki Baat · 27 July 2025
Episode 124 featured handloom weavers in Paithan, Mayurbhanj and Nalanda, a kirtan group warning villages about forest fires, a Thanjavur teacher of palm-leaf manuscripts, a man in Gumla who left violence behind for fish farming, and citizen clean-up teams across India.
4 people · 6 groups · 1 place highlighted. Read the official English transcript.
Person · Paithan, Maharashtra
A weaver in Paithan who used to work in a small, cramped room. With support she has expanded her work, now sells the Paithani saris she weaves herself, and earns about three times as much as before.
As described in Mann Ki Baat
Group · Mayurbhanj, Odisha
More than 650 tribal women in Mayurbhanj who have revived the Santhali sari. They now earn thousands of rupees a month and have built an identity of their own through their weaving.
As described in Mann Ki Baat
Person · Nalanda, Bihar
A weaver from a Nalanda family that has worked in handloom for generations. The family has modernised its work, his children are studying handloom technology and working with big brands, and other families nearby are moving forward with them.
As described in Mann Ki Baat
Group · Keonjhar district, Odisha
A devotional singing group in Keonjhar that also campaigns to protect forests. Inspired by Pramila Pradhan, it adds new verses to traditional kirtans and travels from village to village explaining the damage forest fires cause.
As described in Mann Ki Baat
Person · Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
A Thanjavur scholar worried that Tamil palm-leaf manuscripts would become unreadable to younger people. His evening classes teach students, working people and researchers to read them, and some learners have begun researching traditional medicine from the texts.
As described in Mann Ki Baat
Place · Kaziranga National Park, Assam
The first census of grassland birds in Kaziranga, better known for its rhinos, identified more than 40 species, including rare ones. Teams recorded bird calls and used computer analysis and AI to identify species without disturbing them.
As described in Mann Ki Baat
Person · Basia block, Gumla, Jharkhand
A young man from a once-troubled block of Gumla who gave up violence and took up fish farming, then persuaded others to do the same despite threats. More than 150 families in Basia block now farm fish, including some who had been in armed groups.
As described in Mann Ki Baat
Group · Roing, Arunachal Pradesh
Residents of the small town of Roing, where waste had become a health problem, took responsibility for it themselves. Their initiative even built an entire park out of recycled waste.
As described in Mann Ki Baat
Group · Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh
A team of about 200 women in Bhopal who clean public places and try to change attitudes too. They have cleaned 17 city parks together and hand out cloth bags in place of plastic.
As described in Mann Ki Baat
Group · Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
A group of volunteers in Lucknow who have cleaned along the Gomti river every Sunday for ten years without a break.
As described in Mann Ki Baat
Group · Bilha, Chhattisgarh
Women in the town of Bilha who were trained in waste management and together transformed how clean their town is.
As described in Mann Ki Baat